Gas dips below $3 at some Victoria stations

Gas prices recently dropped below the $3 mark at several Victoria locations, a welcome sight to drivers like Terri Suggs.

Suggs, of Victoria, said it's nice to see fuel prices decrease when everything else seems to be going up.

"I think everybody's happy to see that," she said.

The last time gas prices dipped below $3 a gallon was in 2011, when it fell to $2.89 in February, according to Advocate records.

Cheaper gas prices are taking hold nationwide, said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst at GasBuddy.com. He related it all back to one basic economic principle: supply and demand.

As temperatures drop, people are less likely to take as many road trips as they did during the warmer months, he said. With lower consumption, demand drops, he explained, and supply builds.

On much the same note, DeHaan added, prices tend to increase in spring, at the same time the clock moves forward.

He said he expects to see prices continue to drop in the coming months. During the past few years, DeHaan said, prices bottomed out just before Christmas.

That's good news for Sulema Salinas, a Victoria stay-at-home mom who said she travels to Houston and San Antonio on weekends when she can.

"My husband works at Dow, too, so that's a lot of driving," she said. "This will help."

Rosa Salinas, Sulema Salinas' sister-in-law, said she wished the drop had come a while back when she was preparing for a recent road trip. Still, she said more affordable fuel is good news all the way around.

"My mom drives a lot for work - about 30 miles a day," the Houston resident said. "Anything helps."

As for Sulema Salinas, she wasn't wasting any time taking advantage of the prices.

"I'm going to gas up today," she said with a glance at her champagne-colored truck.